Never take a shortcut.

People who don't have patience will always fall back. They enjoy while they are taking shortcuts, but the shortcuts don't last for long and they later regret them. Does it make any difference if we take a shortcut instead of patiently enjoying

the journey of our life? Few of you might say that life is uncertain and I have many things to do. I can't wait for long. I would love to take a shortcut. But honestly, I am telling you this shortcut will give you enjoyment for a while but later you will be left with regrets. Let's try to understand it with this little story. 

Way back, there were two potters. Both were poor. Both used to go to fairs in the nearby villages to sell their pots for their living. One potter named Mangal was a hardworking person. On the other hand, the other potter Nimesh was not a hardworking person. He always used to look for a shortcut to becoming rich and wealthy overnight. Then one day, there was a flood in their village and they lost everything. They moved to another village and took shelter. After few days, they again decided to start their work. Mangal, as usual, did the hard work, however, Nimesh this time planned something else. Mangal used to make 10-15 pots a day. Nimesh purchased few molds and instead of clay he used wax to make pots. Wax tends to freeze to a solid-state quickly than clay. Both went to the fair and started selling their products. Nimesh sold more pots compare to Mangal. Mangal was a bit upset but he continued his hard work. It was the summer season. One day, Mangal observed that Nimesh used to showcase all the pots in shade to avoid direct sunlight. Mangal asked him about the reason but Nimesh screamed at him. Mangal didn't say anything and came back to his shop. As it was a fair, so suddenly there a shop caught fire due to some accident and it was a mess. Everyone started running here and there. Mangal looked for Nimesh and asked him to go. But Nimesh refused as he was trying to collect all the pots. 

Soon Nimesh's shop caught fire and all the pots made with wax started melting. Nimesh was crying as he lost the entire stuff. Mangal took him back home and gave him one suggestion, "Don't use any shortcut. You tried a shortcut to increase your sale and you paid for it today." Have patience and start again. Well, the story clarifies that shortcuts will always put you in danger. 

Nowadays, most of the youths are very particular about their fitness. They go to the gym to have a nice sporty physique. But there are few guys, who tend to look for shortcuts and they start taking medicine or sometimes steroids to build a strong physique in a short duration. They get the results instantly but then slowly they become addicted to these medicines. I've heard few cases where few youngsters lost their lives or got affected with liver or kidney diseases. 

I know that if you will follow the normal process, you'll fail. But does that mean to avoid any failure we should go for a shortcut? The answer is No. Remember, in my previous article "Failure - The preparation of success." I've emphasized one factor that always takes failure as a first step towards your success. It will take time for sure but the results will be outstanding. 

The shortcut will not give you the clarity of the challenges you will come across to reach your destiny. The shortcut is temporary. But the normal way is permanent. You'll know each step you took and the challenges you came across during the journey always and you'll be able to guide others. On the other hand, if you'll follow the shortcut method you'll not be able to guide anyone because you'll always have this fact running in the back of your mind that you took a shortcut. 

If I talk about our human life, none of us grow older from the day of our birth. We complete the entire life journey in its normal way. From infant to childhood, from childhood to adult, from adult to old. The complete life is divided into phases and everyone has to follow it. We learn, we share and that's how we grow. We gather experience and then share it with others. 

If I talk about myself, I didn't start writing articles overnight. I could have taken a shortcut. I could have copied and pasted information from other articles and altered it a little more and should have started publishing my articles way back. But I didn't because I knew one thing very clear that it would never last for long. I have my 40 years of my life which I've spent and I have many things to share with you. The lessons I learned in these last 40 years since my birth. I followed the steps. I collected all the moments of my life. Penned them down and then started framing them in the form of articles and tried to co-relate them to have a happy and wonderful life. 

I have always followed few basics in life which were taught to me by my bosses. I have come across good and bad bosses too. But believe me, you get to learn something on the other hand from everyone. 

For example:- I learned from one of my boss the magic of smile and I wrote an article on it named "Smile - The magic creator!". I have seen ups and downs in my life but I've never taken a shortcut to overcome my problems because shortcuts will pull me back and I'll be trapped again.

 

Most of you have visited KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) counter. They make tasty fast food. But have you ever read about the founder of KFC and his struggle? It was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders. He was selling his recipe called "secret recipe" got rejected 1009 times before it became KFC. He could have taken a shortcut. He wanted to sell his franchisee in the fast-food industry. He struggled, learned from his mistakes, and again tried. Finally, he got successful. He passed away at the age of 90 on 16th Dec'80 due to pneumonia but by that time, KFC had 6000 locations in 48 countries. Currently, KFC has 23,000 outlets in more than 140 countries and territories around the world. 

Isn't that amazing. If he would have taken a shortcut, he would have never been able to take the KFC brand to this level where it's today. 

To summarize, If you pick up any successful person's story, you'll always see that they have never taken a shortcut. They kept moving and completed their journey by taking small steps. 

So always remember,

"There is no shortcut to anything. Always take small steps to achieve bigger."

All the best!

Regards,

Moloy

(To read in Hindi, click here)